Keenan and Cherell met at Georgia Southern University in 2009. Cherell was fashionably late for a literature class in the Newton building, but Keenan could hear her heels from down the hall. Their eyes met as she took her seat in the front, and she gave him her best Southern belle smile. He knew then that she was special, and they would go on to become good friends, attending college events together and studying for numerous exams from professors Flynn, Town, and Costomiris. Over the years, they kept in touch with each other and their endeavors, with both answering the call to become educators.

In 2020, as the world slowed down, Keenan decided that it was time to take haste in answering the deepest and most passionate desire of his heart—to reunite with his college love. After a year and a half whirlwind romance that took them to various states, another country, and countless adventures, Keenan asked for Cherell’s hand in marriage on March 6, 2022. He contacted her family and closest friends in secret and had them make the journey to Sweetheart Circle on Georgia Southern’s campus to witness the start of a lifetime with his sweetheart.

In true English Literature fashion, he took Cherell on a scavenger hunt in which she had to put together clues from their beloved Shakespeare, Newton building, Education building, and their beloved library, whom all of Georgia Southern affectionately refers to as “Club Henderson”. The last clue was at Sweetheart Circle, where Keenan walked with Cherell down the famous pathway and proposed at the bottom of the beautiful landscape. Keenan and Cherell’s love story has withstood the test of time, and is a reminder that budding love is both infinite and inevitable at Sweetheart Circle.